Other group members wait patiently as each member takes their turn meeting with the rural financial officers to deposit their savings and verify their account balance. Each member receives a record of the transaction printed on a small hand-held printer.

Gideon Nyamwange, former senior deputy commissioner of cooperatives in Kenya and one of WOCCU’s consultants working on the Tanzania program, converses with one of the employees at a SACCO training center in Dar es Salaam.

“I came here to serve those in need because I want to give my heart to those who are hopeless and give them hope for the future,” Lucy Ruithanga, board chair of SOS SACCO, explained, “so that those with broken hearts will be healed.”

Fokkus CAR Manager Ildiko Croitoru (right), pictured here with CU staffer and board member, says that members trust the CAR to honor its commitments. She credits that trust with helping the CAR grow dramatically over the years.

Well-known Roosevelt Avenue, the bustling commercial and cultural center of Corona, New York. In the background, New York’s elevated metro line number 7 parallels Roosevelt while Spanish is heard on the streets below.